(Closed) Ceremony at Parent’s Home

We are looking at having our ceremony performed at my parent’s home. The plan was always to have the reception there, so now we are just basically adding a second event to the same day at the same location. My parent’s have about an acre and a half of land. Half is set apart from the main yard of the house so that will be used for parking. We had already deciced on putting up a tent and renting chairs and tables for the reception.

My question is where should we do the ceremony? In the tent? By the pool? On the back porch (that would overlook the pool)?

My second question is should we rent double the chairs or just designate some close family & friends to help move the chairs from the ceremony area to the tables in the tent?

If you have good weather, I’d say have it outside somehow. Which has a nicer view? Which is more easiy accessible to everyone? Can fit the chairs the easiet? Where will the guests all have the best view of the ceremony? If you choose the pool, just make sure it’s safe. So that Great Aunt Ida can’t lose her balance and fall in, or little Brian doesn’t push his jerky borther in.

If it’s not a big deal to have separate chairs, I bet your guests will find a way to utilize the extra chairs. And no one will have to exert hemselves to move them. But if time space, money is an issue. I bet you could find people generously offer to help move them.

Ok, I am gonna post some photos of the house/yard set up for other parties. The first shows the entry way into the yard. Guests will enter thru the gate and arch with a path. The tent will be a little further back. In this photo there is a small canopy set up. The tent will start about there and extend back into the yard.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/Amber1279/DSC03390.jpg

A few other logisitics …. it will be September in Arizona. It will be hot, that is why we needed the tent so that there is shade. We also wanted an evening reception so that it is cooling off. Chances are we will have a sunset ceremony. The sunsets behind the pool area with how the house sits on the property. Most of the property is easily accesible by walking, it is a very open yard.

It was hard to see with the pictures — but I would think if you’re worried about the heat you would do the ceremony under the tent, then a cocktail hour (doesn’t have to be a full cocktail bar, just some snacks and drinks, lemonade on a hot day would be great) by the pool and on the deck, followed by the reception back under the tent. While you’re taking photos and your guests are enjoying the cocktail hour the tent can be "switched" from ceremony to reception. You can definitely have a few close family members do it, or maybe check out craigslist for movers — and you could just pay them an hours worth of "moving" but it would really just be moving furniture around! I’m sure you coudl find someone who isn’t attending the wedding to move the chairs/tables. That way you dont have to rent double the chairs and you can hide the tables outside the tent during the ceremony.

I think you’re on the right track to deciding the location of each activity on the property so I won’t bother making suggestions on that. All I really wanted to add was an opinion about the chairs question.

We’re having our wedding at my Mum’s house, and in between the ceremony and reception, we’re having a two hour cocktail period during which time I am confident the groomsmen will be ok with moving the chairs for us (they only have to move them about 20 feet, and there are only 80 chairs, which means less than 20 chairs per groomsmen…and they have a two hours window to accomplish the task!) Unless you’re really worried about the logistics, I wouldn’t bother trying to get movers or buying twice the number of chairs–IMHO that was money better spent elsewhere in our budget!